Consisting of the blue collar tour and blue collar TV, the blue collar comedy is a highly entertaining comedy created by brilliant comedians.
Blue collar comedy is a hugely popular movement in stand-up comedy, largely inspired by working-class citizens and spawning countless tours, TV series, and comedy careers. Blue collar humor relies on jokes and gags to which Everyman can relate, bits about manual laborers and minimum-wage workers’ shared struggle.
From Jeff Foxworthy’s “you might be a redneck” jokes to Larry the Cable Guy’s Southern trucker persona, the blue collar comedy comedians genre relates to audiences known for being “home-grown” and typically Southern.
Here’s a list of the best blue collar comedy comedians:
Jeff Foxworthy
Essentially the godfather of blue collar comedy, Jeff Foxworthy might be the nicest guy in stand-up. Creator of the famous routine “You might be a redneck if…”—which helped provide the basis for the blue-collar movement—Foxworthy organized the original blue collar comedy tour, and the rest is history.
Unlike some other blue collar comedy comedians, you don’t get the impression that Foxworthy’s “regular guy” act is a put-on.
Larry the Cable Guy
If Foxworthy helped introduce the blue collar comedy movement, Larry the Cable Guy took it to its extreme and became its unofficial face, outpacing many other blue collar comics in terms of success. Ironically, he came by it the least honestly.
Larry the Cable Guy has become one of stand-up comedy’s highest earners, launching several successful tours and best-selling albums but garnering a few critically reviled movie flops.
Ron White
Though an original member of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Ron White is probably the least blue collar of the touring comics. He’s also placed the greatest distance between himself and the movement, finding a great deal of success as a hard-drinking, hard-living, bitterly sarcastic stand-up.
His act is often very adult and obscene, another way he stands out from other blue-collar comics. To audiences who may not enjoy the usual working-class shtick, White’s act is probably the most accessible—and maybe the funniest.
Jeff Dunham
Though not typically associated with the movement, comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham have a lot in common with some blue-collar comics: His comedy is mostly clean. He traffics in the same kind of humor—stereotypes and a pro-America sensibility—and he has become a hit with mainstream Middle Americans.
It’s hard to believe that a ventriloquist could become one of the most successful names in stand-up, but Jeff Dunham has done just that, with the highest-rated special in Comedy Central history and his show on the same network.
Kathleen Madigan
Kathleen Madigan presents a different side to blue collar comedy: not only is she a female comedian, but while most others reflect Southern country sensibilities, Madigan’s a more Middle American, metropolitan comic.
Like all the blue-collar comics, though, Madigan’s humor is populist and universal. She has a wealth of material about her Irish Catholic upbringing, her family, and everyday life in general.
Madigan hosts a regular show on SIRIUS XM’s Blue Collar Radio if there is any doubt about her blue collar credentials.
Above mentioned comedians are the ones who started blue collar comedy comedians and brought it to light in front of others and made it a part of comedy culture.
